Audi A3 vs Honda Civic

On MOT-testable defects the Audi A3 comes out ahead: 17.3% of its tests record a failure against 20.8% for the Honda Civic, a 3.5-point gap. The biggest single difference is lighting & signalling, where the Civic records failures noticeably more often.

17.3%
A3 fail rate
20.8%
Civic fail rate
3.45pp
Difference

Side by side

MOT figures compared
MetricAudi A3Honda Civic
MOT tests analysed2,507,5631,795,430
Pass rate82.7%79.2%
Fail rate17.3%20.8%
Fail rate compared (lower is better) Audi A3 17.3% Honda Civic 20.8%
Overall MOT fail rate across comparable model years.

Where they differ

Failure-area share, by category
CategoryA3Civic
Lighting & signalling6.8%14.4%
Brakes4.5%6.7%
Visibility2.6%4.5%
Suspension7.2%8.9%
Tyres6.3%5.3%

Methodology & source. Dataset: DVSA MOT testing data (2021,2022,2023,2024,2025). Data last updated 2026-07-27. Figures reflect MOT-testable defects only — read the methodology for how these are calculated and what they don't measure.

See the full data